Cops: 2 OD on heroin as kids play at McDonald’s

Dan Sewell

March 14, 2014

By Dan Sewell

Associated Press

CINCINNATI (AP) — An Indiana couple overdosed on heroin in a McDonald’s play area, Ohio police said, and now face child endangering charges.

The fire department in Green Township, just west of Cincinnati, responded to a call Sunday about two unresponsive adults in the fast-food restaurant’s indoor play area. Authorities said one was unconscious and not breathing; the other was conscious but unresponsive. They recovered after emergency treatment for what police say were “life-threatening overdoses” of heroin.

Authorities said the couple from Dillsboro, Ind., acknowledged using the drugs while with two children, a 5-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy.

Robert Paul Palmer, 37, was being held Thursday on $10,000 bond. Tamica Lynn Jeffers, 33, was being held on $6,000 bond. Court records show both pleaded not guilty.

Palmer had a brief court appearance Thursday and had his next court date set for March 24. Municipal Court Judge Megan Shanahan ordered him to stay away from the two children. His relationship to them wasn’t clear; neither shared his last name, according to court records.

Indiana children’s service workers were called Sunday, according to a spokesman for Hamilton County Job and Family Services. A public defender for Jeffers didn’t immediately return a telephone message.

Green Township Fire & EMS chief Doug Witsken said he couldn’t release any details of Sunday’s emergency run other than what was in public records.

The McDonald’s owner and operator, Judson Pickard, praised employees and customers for getting help quickly and said the restaurant is cooperating with authorities.